Partner Article

Event debates marketing strategy over customer-oriented culture

A Portcullis House debate hosted by The Worshipful Company of Marketors, “The Marketors” and chaired by Conservative MP Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan, has seen marketing experts debate if a strong customer-oriented culture is more important for business success that having the right marketing strategy.

Despite most attendees agreeing with the motion that having a strong customer-oriented culture is more important than having the right marketing strategy as they arrived, it was a narrow win for those opposing the motion – indicated by a vote taken as the event concluded.

Anthony Thomson, proposer and founder of Atom Bank and Metro Bank, stated that customer loyalty is born in culture, not strategy. Seconder for the motion was Amanda Mackenzie OBE, who has recently been appointed as Chief Executive of Business in the Community (BITC) following her two-year secondment from Aviva to Project Everyone, the charity founded by Richard Curtis.

“Culture isn’t just a ‘marketing thing’,” argued Amanda. “It’s the basis upon which you build a successful company and a powerful brand. This is not the stuff of management consultants and marketing strategies; this is the heart and soul of a company.

“Customers who have the greatest appreciation of a company are five times more likely to stay longer and buy more. This is a service and culture driven benefit.”

Distinguished academic and opposer of the motion Professor Malcolm McDonald countered that a customer-oriented culture can lead to destruction of shareholder value and that everything a company does should add value to a fully integrated marketing plan.

“There is nothing wrong with aspiring to a customer-oriented culture,” Professor McDonald said. “The problem is that it has no useful purpose unless it adds value to customers as part of an integrated marketing strategy. It can be a competitive example in traditionally customer-hostile industries, but as most are going down the same cultural path, any advantage will be short-lived.

“Over a 40-year period almost every highest earning company went bankrupt – lovely, customer-oriented people though they all were – because of a lack of a professional marketing strategy.”

This is the second business debate that The Marketors has hosted this year, following the huge success of its social media debate in February.

“Whilst planning The Marketors events programme for 2016, we wanted to run events that would engage and stimulate people as much as possible, and the debates in our series of three have done just that,” said The Marketors’ Master 2016-2017, David Pearson. “By selecting relevant topics that often divide business professionals and involving our experienced Liverymen, the debates have provided an insightful commentary into the landscape of the marketing industry.”

The next debate will be chaired by Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP on 18th October, considering the motion “This house believes that a business must have a social purpose to survive”. For more information, please visit marketors.org.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by The Worshipful Company of Marketors .